The intuitive impression is that lotus is smaller, while cabbage is bigger; Lotus is tightly wrapped, and cabbage is relatively fluffy; Lotus leaves are thinner and have less water, while Chinese cabbage leaves are slightly thicker and have more water. I insist that these two ingredients are different.
Probably, it's called cabbage in the south and lotus or cabbage in the north. Perhaps, they are just the difference between the north and the south? I am neither a gourmet nor a cook. But the sense of taste tells me that I can't stir-fry the taste of shredded cabbage in my childhood memory with lotus seeds.
Winter is coming, and geographical cabbage is growing just right. In my childhood memory, I was about to kill the "Chinese New Year pig". When the butcher got home and began to decorate the yard, my mother told me to pick vegetables in the field and wash them by the river.
On the day of killing pigs, neighbors will be invited to have dinner at home, which is a local custom. As usual, it is to cook a big table. I like to tear cabbage by hand, especially for cooking.
I remember my mother cooked this dish many times, and I knew it by heart. The practice is also simple. Fresh steaming pork belly, fat and thin, cut into thin slices, stir-fry with plain oil, then put the prepared hand-torn cabbage in and stir-fry until cooked. Speaking of spices, it may be dried red pepper, ginger and fresh garlic seedlings just picked from the ground. Be sure to cook it thoroughly, but there is no need to add water during the frying process. The water oozing from the cabbage is enough for stewing vegetables.
Tearing cabbage by hand, as the name implies, means tearing cabbage by hand, not cutting it with a knife. However, when my mother cooked this dish, she didn't tear the cabbage for later use. She waited until the meat was almost fried in the pot, and then quickly cut the cabbage directly into the pot with a kitchen knife. Of course, the taste is still very good.
When I was a child, I asked her why she didn't cut it out or tear it for later use. She said: "It's not the same whether to tear it first or cut it first. Just clean the outside of the cabbage, there is nothing inside except its own moisture. We just want to eat its freshness from the ground, and then cut it directly into the pot to preserve its taste ... "I think what my mother said is quite reasonable, which is also her secret book.
The symbolic feature of hand-torn cabbage is "hand-torn", which has nothing to do with exquisiteness, and can be said to be "rustic". It can't go to the high-end restaurants in the hotel, and it doesn't intend to compete with France and food. Its ingredients are cheap, the practice is simple, and it is passed on from mouth to mouth at the table of ordinary people, but the treatment is not thin.
The taste of hand-torn cabbage is natural, and it does not deliberately pursue a glamorous and exquisite appearance. I'm not used to big meals, and I'm even afraid of big meals. I don't have enough to eat every time. If I have to drink and socialize, I will have a headache. Meditate in your heart every time, it is better to tear cabbage and a bowl of rice with one hand.
The road is simple and the taste is not complicated. For me, it is also the taste of the land, the taste of nature; It is still the taste of childhood, the taste of mother; That is the smell of fireworks, the smell of ordinary life. Now, it adds memories and the flavor of hometown.